The old Jerusalem Railway Station occupies the north-eastern point with Rivka Street forming the southern base.

The station created the nucleus of a commercial center that eventually attracted mostly wealthy Muslim, Christian, and Armenian families from the Old City, who built mansions there in the 1920s.

After 1948, many streets in Baka were renamed for the Twelve Tribes of Israel: Judah, Issachar, Levi, Zevulun, Reuven, Shimon, Gad, Ephraim, Menashe, Benjamin, Dan, Asher and Naphtali.

The main commercial street, Derech Beit Lehem, is lined with shops, designer stores, coffee houses, restaurants and more.

In 2008, the school vacated its college-style dormitories, communal rooms and gardens after the lease expired with the Carmelite Church that owned the property.